Band of Heathens going strong with new lineup

By VINCENT HARRISFor the Herald-Journal

Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at 4:25 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at 4:25 p.m.

Despite the soothingly melodic, acoustic-electric rock sound of the Band of Heathens' 2013 album, "Sunday Morning Record," the Austin, Texas-born band was going through a tumultuous period while recording it.

The group had just lost two of its founding members, singer-guitarist Colin Brooks and bassist Seth Whitney, along with longtime drummer John Chipman. Personally, there were issues as well, with band members relocating and starting families during the recording.

It was a rare bump in the road for a group that had risen steadily since forming around a trio of solo singer-songwriters in 2005. The Band of Heathens' live following quickly became so devoted that the group was able to release two successful live albums before its studio debut (even now, it make its live shows available to its fans via download immediately after concerts). And its debut studio album featured such heavy-hitters as Patty Griffin, Stephen Bruton and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Led by the founding duo of Gordy Quist and Ed Jurdi and featuring a restructured lineup, the Band of Heathens is going strong. Quist spoke recently with the Herald-Journal in anticipation of the band's performance Saturday at the Visulite Theater in Charlotte.

Question: How are things going for the band now?

Answer: Things are going really well right now. The band is in a really healthy place. We've been touring for about a year, and the band's really excited. I think we sound better than we've ever sounded. When we were making the (last) record, a lot of things were up in the air. But things have settled down, and I think we're in a good place right now.

Q: With the lineup solidified, have you started thinking about the next album?

A: Yeah. Right now, we're collecting songs, and we're looking at going into the studio sometime in the fall.

Q: Do you anticipate the band's sound changing with the new members?

A: It does change whenever you bring new musicians into the fold, but I think the essence of the band is intact. But even when we had a steady lineup, we were always pushing to make the next record sound different than the one before. I think we would've been striving to evolve and change anyway.

Q: Since you started out as a solo artist, were you ever tempted to go back to being one when the band was having problems?

A: It certainly might be true that it's easier to be a solo artist, but I don't know that it's as rewarding artistically. I guess it's subjective whether one is better than the other. There's always room to make a solo record or do solo shows, but we're still enjoying this trip that the band is on, and it's really exciting as a songwriter to have a band like this to bring material to, because it always ends up morphing into something else, and it's pretty cool to see where that goes. I feel really fortunate to be a part of this band.

Q: You write both on your own and in collaboration with Ed Jurdi. What does he bring to your songwriting?

A: It's great to have a second set of ears on a song. Doors open up that you wouldn't have found on your own, just because everyone's approaching it from a different place. Ed seems to have endless musical ideas going, for example, and for me, I find I'll have excess lyrics. So I can toss in something that I haven't come up with music for yet, and he'll have something musical that he hasn't put words to yet.

Q: What's the philosophy behind recording and releasing all of your live shows?

A: The live show is different every night, and the versions we do live are different from the studio albums. It's something that makes us push ourselves to make every night something special, and our fans like being able to take it home from the show that night and have a snapshot of what they just experienced on record.

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